FTI Consulting News Bytes – 29th April 2022
What a week it’s been. We kick off today’s News Bytes with Musk’s infamous Twitter takeover and all the great and the good expressing their opinion on the matter. Next we question, has this big week of tech quarterly results shown that the FAANG acronym is outdated? Fast-fashion giant Shein has been in the spotlight this week with its recent valuation of £78 billion. Elsewhere, Piers Morgan returned to TV screens with his new Talk TV show ‘Uncensored.’ And finally, an Israeli lab-grown meat company is testing cultivating meat on the ISS…will space-grown meat be a reality in the 21st century?
This week’s news
Twitter Takeover
No prizes for guessing the biggest story in tech this week. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has filled the column inches of every outlet every day since the deal was announced on Monday. From the EU Commissioner Thierry Breton to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, almost everyone has weighed in on what Musk’s ownership means for the future of Twitter. The FT’s Lex column expressed scepticism over Musk’s ability to revive the company’s fortunes. Musk attributed his offer to the need to protect free speech, but removing moderation tools risks damaging advertiser relations – the company’s primary source of revenue. The Times looks at the economics of the deal, suggesting that with $1.14 billion in losses in 2020, Twitter “isn’t the ideal vehicle on which to plant one of the biggest buyouts in history.” What’s more, while Musk is the world’s richest man, his wealth is tied up in SpaceX and Tesla, whose shares fell 12.2% following the announcement.
Time to finish FAANG?
After this mega week of Big Tech results, some have started to think that the popular FAANG acronym is no longer fit for purpose. With some of these organisations’ results falling below expectations, whilst others high-performing, The Telegraph thinks that it has become less helpful to group them together. Apple’s success of 20% return on investments this year vs. Meta and Netflix’s “disastrous” Q1 results points to the wildly different business trajectories of these organisations which we tend to lump into the same group. As variations of category emerge, with FAANG-M and FAANMGs complicating the group even further – maybe it’s time to deconstruct this category altogether? Let us know what you think!
Issues abound for ultra-fast fashion Shein
Chinese fast fashion giant Shein has had a meteoric rise with a recent valuation of £78 billion. Producing around 6,000 new designs every day, the company has redefined the meaning of “fast fashion.” Yet there may be troubled waters ahead. A Sunday Times investigation accuses the company of “deliberate tax avoidance on a global scale.” Elsewhere, the FT scrutinizes the environmental impact of the company’s operations whose products sell for $7.09 on average and are worn just a few times before being thrown away. To top it off, The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast features an interview with small business owners/designers who accuse Shein of copying their £100 designs and selling them for little more than a fiver. It remains to be seen whether these issues will catch up with the company or if it will continue to reshape the retail industry.
Piers Morgan returns to TV
Piers Morgan’s new TalkTV show Uncensored broadcasted its first episode this week, with nearly 400,000 viewers tuning in. Morgan’s return to television won a 2% share of all television viewing, beating both Sky News and BBC News in the same slot, with appearances from Donald Trump and Mike Tyson among others. Media analysts at Enders Analysis have questioned the finances behind the new station, The Guardian reports. They said TalkTV is “unlikely to achieve the viewing levels required for stand-alone profitability in the midterm.” The success of Murdoch’s television channel will partly depend on whether clips go viral on social media. With the strapline “straight talking starts here”, it’s set to be a divisive addition to the media space.
Growing meat in space
If you thought growing meat in a lab was futuristic, growing meat in space is the latest tech mission to hit our newsfeeds. The BBC reported that the first all-private astronaut team began a test last week on the International Space Station to see if meat cells can successfully grow in a zero gravity environment. Leading the study is Aleph Farms, an Israeli company that specialises in growing meat from cells. It’s still waiting for regulatory approval on its Earth-based lab-grown meat, so it’s very much in the early stages of its space endeavours. But who knows? Maybe we’ll be dining on a Mars-grown steak in 100 years’ time…
Top Tweets of the Week
- KFC UK: “To put things into context, Elon Musk could have bought 17,424,242,424 Twister Wraps at £1.98 each or two large pizzas from Dominos for the same price as his Twitter purchase.”
- Elon Musk: “Let’s make Twitter maximum fun!”
Number of the Week
1.4% – The percentage at which the US economy contracted this week – its first shrinkage since mid-2020.
What’s happening next week?
- 1 May – U.S. takes over U.N. Security Council presidency from UK
- 2 May – Eid, May Bank Holiday
- 3 May – Post Office strike, Competition Appeal Tribunal CPO application hearing for Apple case
- 4 May – Uber Q1 results, eBay Q1 results, Star Wars Day
- 5 May – UK interest rate decision, UK local elections, News Corp Q3 results
Contact Us
To be added to the distribution list for FTI Consulting News Bytes, or for further information on the dedicated TMT team at FTI, please contact [email protected].
| The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
©2022 FTI Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. www.fticonsulting.com |
